


we should all burn together

by LJF



Series: we all want love/we all want honor [13]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Episode: s02e08 The Chase, Gen, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh (Avatar) loves Tea, Order of the White Lotus, Pai Sho, Protective Iroh (Avatar), Toph Beifong Being Awesome, Toph Beifong-centric, other characters not mentioned in tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26845087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LJF/pseuds/LJF
Summary: After one of thestrangestpai sho games of her life, Toph set out to find Iroh and Zuko.(She'd forgotten how delicious Uncle's tea could be.)
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Iroh, Toph Beifong & Order of the White Lotus, Toph Beifong & Zuko
Series: we all want love/we all want honor [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936222
Comments: 22
Kudos: 268





	we should all burn together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pigeonchest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonchest/gifts).



> A special shout-out to the good people who manage the [Avatar Wiki](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Wiki). I use it for a _lot_ of topics that come up while writing ATLA and LOK fanfiction, but _especially_ geography. (The Avatar World map is great, but half the places are just labeled things like "Haru's Village" and "Harbor Town" which doesn't really work when I'm trying to identify locations to characters _in_ the world. The wiki is where I get cool stuff like the name of the mountain range in the southern Earth Kingdom, or what river Aang used to wash Appa's fur off in "The Chase." I haven't made up a single location name in this series, and that wiki is why.)
> 
> (What I _do_ have fun coming up with names for are pseudonyms and OCs.)

_"I hope that you remember me."_

_\- Ed Sheeran, "I See Fire"_

Toph walked into the seedy bar that apparently served as Yu Dao's gambling den. She walked past several tables of people playing cards, pai sho, and various other games, until she reached a small table in the back. An empty pai sho board sat on its surface, but the old woman sitting in front of it seemed intently focused on the scroll in her hands and didn't appear to have noticed her visitor.

Toph gulped.

_Last chance to walk away._

She didn't have a clue if this would work. Uncle had told her what to do if she needed help, yes, but at the time, she'd been living in the Fire Nation Capital, and had assumed he'd meant someone _there_. What were the odds some random old woman in Yu Dao would be able to help her?

_It can't hurt to try._

"May I have this game?" The old woman lifted her head from her reading.

"How kind of you to offer," the woman replied, putting down her scroll. "Have a seat." She handed Toph a set of tiles. Toph felt the surface, then frowned.

"I'm sorry, would you mind if I used my own?" Toph asked, handing them back. "I need to be able to feel them."

"That's fine," said the woman. Toph stomped her foot on the dirt floor, and fifty-four stone tiles rose up from the ground, etched with various symbols. "Fascinating. By the way, you may call me Mirei. Might I have your name?"

 _'Call me Mirei.'_ Not _'_ _my name is Mirei.'_ Under normal circumstances, it might not have meant much, but this wasn't exactly _normal_.

"Call me Lin Yu," she replied. _Better safe than sorry._

"The guest has the first move," Mirei said, and Toph could hear the smile in her voice.

Carefully, remembering Iroh's instructions, she picked up one of her lotus tiles and placed it squarely on the center of the board.

"I see you favor the white lotus gambit," Mirei said, surprise evident in her voice. "Not many still cling to the ancient ways."

_It worked!_

"But those who do can always find a friend," she replied, cupping her hands.

The two of them continued placing tiles, Toph recalling the precise order Iroh Uncle had drilled into her. _Wheel, Boat, Rock, Knotweed, Rose, Chrysanthemum, Rhododendron, White Jade, White Lily, Jasmine, White Dragon......_ She couldn't tell if the smooth wooden tiles Mirei was laying out were the right ones, but the _locations_ seemed correct.

 _I'm a doofus. It's a_ lotus _blossom._

"Welcome, sister," said the old woman. "The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets." 

"I don't really know too many secrets," Toph admitted. "But my uncle's missing, and he told me to save this for my 'hour of need.' Any chance you can help me find him?"

"I'll see what I can do, young initiate," Mirei said.

Within hours, Toph had her bag packed and was on a boat headed south, captained Mirei's friend "Fuyu." (No doubt another fake name.)

Toph had spent _three years_ at sea. She _knew_ how fast sea travel was. An older steamship like Zuko's, at a fast pace, _might_ have been able to make it to the South Sea in about a week, weather permitting. A wooden boat like this one (she was reminded of _just_ how much she _hated_ boats she couldn't _see_ on) should take at _least_ three weeks, if not longer.

They reached the mouth of the Nan Shan river in three _days_.

(She hadn't noticed _Fuyu_ doing any _obvious_ waterbending, but she hadn't noticed much of _anything_ that went on beyond the end of her nose. She was _so_ glad she'd invented metalbending.)

(She didn't know how many people were involved in this little pai sho club, but _wow_ they were good, and could get news across the country quickly.

The last _official_ communication any of them had received from the old man was from somewhere around Gaipan.

However, someone near Chin had heard rumors that the Blue Spirit was in the area, and a guy in the southern plains had seen a scarred boy claiming to be Prince Zuko using firebending. Toph was somewhat concerned that neither of these reports mentioned Uncle, but chose not to dwell on it.)

She jumped off the boat (bag in hand), reveling in the feeling of _earth_ between her toes.

"Thank you!" Toph waved to Fuyu, who she could hear sailing away.

She spent most of the night (she was _pretty_ sure it was night, anyways), slowly following the river north through the woods, walking in the general direction of the Xishaan Mountains. Toph didn't know _exactly_ where Sparky and Uncle were, but this region was where the last of the reports had come from, so it seemed like a good place to start. Eventually, she started feeling tired, so she unpacked her pillow, bent a small stone tent, and fell asleep.

When she finally woke up, she felt more refreshed than she had in _years_.

 _How long was I out?_ (Nine or ten hours, _at least_.)

She kept walking.

An hour or two later, she frowned. There was someone _hiding_ behind that rock. _Is that....?_ She crouched and stomped her foot, releasing a wave of dirt to dislodge the boulder.

" _Ow_ ," Uncle Iroh yelped. "That really hurt my tailbone."

"That's what you get for being a pain in _mine_ ," she said, scowling. "You owe me some answers, old man."

She agreed to let him make some tea, first.

"Why don't you start by telling me what happened at the North Pole, and how you ended up as fugitives," she said as soon as the teacup was in her hand. "Then we can talk about where in Szeto's name Sparky is, and why you two decided it would be a good idea to _forget_ that I was waiting to hear from you guys-- and don't tell me you didn't have _some_ way of getting me a message, because you _know_ I can tell when you're lying."

So she sat and listened as Uncle told her all about the Northern siege, interjecting at the more insane parts.

"So, he _had_ the Avatar, and then he decided to _drag the two of them_ into an actual _blizzard_?"

"What do you _mean_ , Zhao tried to _kill_ the moon? I can't even _see_ the thing and I know it's important! Not to mention that _everyone_ knows that messing with the spirits is a _bad_ idea."

"The _Ocean Spirit_ sunk the navy?"

"A princess _died_?"

"Wait, you're telling me that, after all that, instead of chasing the Avatar, Sparky decided to lay down and take a _nap_?"

When he finished, recalling how the two of them had spent a few weeks drifting down the Su Oku river, she held out her cup for more tea.

"That's a nice story, I'm still not _seeing_ where you two became fugitives and dropped the idea of coming back for me."

"While we were staying at the spa, we had an unexpected guest," Uncle said.

"Wait, the ice princess came to capture you _herself_?" Toph gaped at him. "Has she ever even _left_ the Fire Nation before?"

"Doubtful. My niece is many things, but a global traveller is not one of them," Iroh said. "In any case, she invited us to return to the Fire Nation with her, and we gratefully accepted." (There was a lie in there somewhere, but nothing major-- Uncle tended to understate and oversimplify things.)

"Let me guess, it was a trap." That sounded like something Azula would do.

"Something like that," Iroh said. "We managed to escape, but we were declared criminals and fugitives."

"I got that part," she said. "And why, at this point, couldn't you just, like, get a message to me in Yu Dao?"

"Lady Toph, we were being _hunted_ ," Uncle explained. "We thought you'd be better off without us."

"Well, that was a stupid decision," Toph replied. "Remind me to punch Sparky for coming up with it."

"What do you-"

"As if I'd let you guys become wanted criminals without me," she said. "Haven't you figured out by now that you're not allowed to have fun adventures without me?"

Uncle laughed.

"You are right, Toph," he said. "I apologize for ever forgetting."

" _Thank you_ ," she said. "But you'd better not do it again. Where did you say Zuko is now?"

"I've been tracking him," Uncle explained. "He decided he wanted to go his own way."

"Wait, _what_?!"

"So let me get this straight," Toph said a few minutes later, after the former general had explained the chain of events that had led to him and Zuko parting ways. "You told Sparky capturing the Avatar wouldn't solve your problems, he decided you 'didn't have anything to gain by traveling together,' and rode off before you could stop him?"

"That would not be an incorrect assessment," the old man said, refilling her tea again.

"Jeez, Uncle, I thought you were supposed to be the _smart_ one in this family," she said.

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Iroh sounded puzzled.

"We're talking about _Zuko_ here," Toph said. "The guy who thinks that anything that goes wrong _ever_ is somehow his fault. Lightning strikes the ship? His bad luck. Getting banished at the age of _thirteen_? Obviously, he must have deserved it. The Avatar got away again? Clearly, his bending wasn't good enough." _Knowing Sparky, he's probably managed to convince himself that his mom leaving and the deaths of the 41st division are_ also _s_ _omehow_ _his fault._

"That..... is a valid point," Uncle said, considering this. "But what does that have to do with-"

"So, if the two of you had arrest warrants issued while on _his_ banishment quest, _of course_ he thinks it's because of him," she explained.

"You mean-"

"He wasn't saying that _he_ doesn't want _you_ around," said Toph. "He was saying _you'd_ be better off without _him_."

"They say there's no fool like an old fool," Iroh said, sighing.

"Did you ever think to tell him that you two need _each other_?" Toph asked.

"Did you?"

She didn't respond, just took another sip of her tea.

Suddenly, she stood up.

"We gotta go, _now_ ," she said.

"Is something wrong?" Uncle quickly packed up the tea.

"You said Sparky's around here, right?"

"Yes, I believe so," Uncle said. "Is he in danger?"

"It's too far away for me to figure out what, exactly, is going on," Toph explained. "All I know is, I'm hearing what sounds like a lot of crashing and exploding. It could be nothing....."

"Or it could be Azula," Uncle finished.

"Exactly."

In unison, they raced towards Tu Zin.

_"It crashed into this lonely town."_

_\- Ed Sheeran, "I See Fire"_

**Author's Note:**

> This one's for pigeonchest, because Toph and Iroh bonding.
> 
> At first, I figured Toph, with all her crazy talents, could track down Zuko and Iroh by herself. But this isn't like all of the other chases going on in "The Chase." Azula tracks Aang because he's got a giant, conspicuous, shedding sky bison. Zuko tracks Azula because she's riding a giant _tank_ and isn't actually _trying_ to hide. Iroh tracks Zuko because he's basically been following his wayward nephew from the moment they split up.  
> In contrast, Toph is all the way on the other side of the continent, and all she knows is that they are _somewhere_ in the Earth Kingdom, which, you know, is kind of _the largest landmass in the entire world_. No offense to Toph's _impressive_ arsenal, but it seems unlikely she'd be able to find them on her own. Which left me in a bit of a bind.  
> And then my brain was like, "Iroh taught Toph pai sho at a time when she was living in the Fire Nation in an extremely precarious position. He _knew_ that at any point, her life might be in danger, possibly while he wasn't there. Of _course_ he'd have taught her the OWL code, just in case. And of course, rather than using it to help herself, Toph would use it to get help to _him_ and Zuko."  
> (I was _also_ going to have Toph travel by land, but it just didn't make sense considering the distance (which is primarily along the coast) and the amount of _rivers_ in the way.)  
> And we don't meet any female OWL members in ATLA, so I'm fixing that.
> 
> Also, the idea of my constantly sleep-deprived Toph being just about the only character in "The Chase" operating on a full night's (or _day_ 's, whatever) worth of sleep was too hilarious to pass up.
> 
> And sorry, Iroh. I love the guy, but he's not infallible or omnicient, and sometimes he needs to be reminded of this.  
> Zuko, as made clear from canon, carries a perpetually guilty conscience. He's also _desperate_ to be _needed_. (That's part of what gets him in the crystal caverns-- Azula told him "I need you." When do you think his capable, competent little sister has ever _needed_ him for _anything_?)
> 
> Next up, another reunion and some interesting revelations for various parties.
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](ljf613.tumblr.com)!


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